Joint Force Quarterly

Articles from Spring-Summer

The United States remains at war with Iraq. Since the imposition of no-fly zones, Baghdad has developed a new form of strategic response--unconventional operations targeted at air forces. An American-led coalition exercises dominance over the Iraqi...

On March 23 a glittering but somber crowd of active and retired officers from all services, present and former government officials, distinguished academics, and civilians from all walks of life gathered at the National Defense University (NDU) to...

As I look back on 38 years of service, the central experience for officers of my generation was Vietnam. Americans lost faith in the integrity and professionalism of the military during that conflict. We must never allow the Armed Forces to be placed...

To the Editor--I basically agree with the critique by Ted Galen Carpenter in "Postwar Strategy: An Alternative View" (JFQ, Winter 00-01) on the U.S. policy of dual containment. The Persian Gulf is a region with friendly nations who do not always share...

From 1950 to 1953, with only a partial mobilization, the Army fought in Korea, bolstered its presence in Europe, and organized an air defense artillery system on the homefront. Success in these endeavors depended significantly on the capability of...

To the Editor--I appreciated the comments by Eric Michael and Patrick Carroll on my article "Rethinking Army-Marine Corps Roles in Power Projection" (JFQ, Autumn 00), which appeared in your last issue. But neither addressed my central focus: advocating...

In response to the communist invasion of South Korea in June 1950, the U.N. Security Council (with the Soviet representative absent from the chamber in protest) approved Resolution 84, which made the United States executive agent for military operations....

By 1951, Stalin recognized that his support for the Korean War was a disaster. The United States and its allies in Europe, galvanized by communist aggression in Asia, expanded NATO capabilities while lending sufficient support to carry on U.N. operations...

The past just is not what it used to be. Once we believed that 54,000 Americans died in the Korean War, but we have learned that slippery math and double-counting swelled that death toll by 18,000. Perhaps that should make the war seem less terrible;...

The two great military extractions from the beach of the 20th century occurred at Dunkerque in 1940 and Hungnam in 1950. In both cases a large number of troops were withdrawn in the face of superior enemy strength. And although they are often invoked...

Born in Battle Ground, Indiana; graduated from DePauw University (1926); attended basic school in Philadelphia with temporary duty assignments both at home and in Tientsin (1926-28); served at Quantico, Pensacola, and San Diego (1928-29); assigned...

Most advanced states have begun exploring the integration of non-lethality in their militaries, and many have elaborate programs to develop the weaponry and operational concepts to use them. Although the evolution of technology facilitates the development...

The planning and execution of Operation Chromite by General Douglas MacArthur in 1950 established the operational art that guides U.S. joint operations today. The Inchon invasion was one of the best operational-level case studies in the recent past....

Joint experimentation has reached a juncture. U.S. Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) is the focal point for joint experimentation and implementing concepts found in Joint Vision 2020. While the command has embraced these tasks as its preeminent mission,...

In June 1950, some 135,000 North Korean troops attacked South Korea, sparking a bitter struggle that many have called the "Forgotten War." While it may have been forgotten by some, it certainly was not by the soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, and...

U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) has announced the second annual Special Operations Forces Essay Contest, which solicits innovative concepts on Special Operations Forces (SOF) doctrine, training, education, employment, organization, and technologies....

To many observers the NATO air campaign against Serbia in the spring of 1999 represents the future face of war. The long-distance, high-tech application of force is an attractive template as the United States and other nations become ever more casualty-averse....

The contemporary era does not represent a strategic pause, but rather an interwar period, and history suggests that the next significant conflict will not be as distant as many would believe. Since 1648 major powers have engaged in a full-scale war...

The staff of Far East Air Forces (FEAF) conducted the first systematic study of measures to produce a negotiated settlement in a limited war through airpower some fifty years ago. As both the conflict and truce talks continued, stalemate on the ground...

Following World War II, Korea was divided into two zones of occupation along the 38th Parallel. The United States occupied the southern zone while the north was controlled by the Soviet Union. When no solution to the issues of reunification emerged,...

As U.N. forces advanced north during autumn 1950, the United States concluded that the Chinese leadership was preoccupied with consolidating control over its country and would not intervene in Korea for fear that the fragile Chinese economy could not...

The Marine air-ground team proved its metal in set piece battles during the Korean conflict, including both the defense of the Pusan Perimeter and support of amphibious operations at Inchon. But the maneuver phase of the war presented a new set of...

During two global conflicts the National Guard mobilized and provided both ground and air capabilities to defeat totalitarian powers in Europe and Asia. Its contribution reflected the American reliance on citizen-soldiers who serve their states and...

The Korean War is a case study in operational art, not only historically but as a paradigm for U.S. strategic thinking. General Douglas MacArthur was the last operational level commander until the Persian Gulf War in 1990-1991. (1) Paradoxically, operational...

Cyberspace clickskrieg represents a dramatic shift in strategic thinking that changes the way we took at war. As an information medium and vehicle of influence, the Internet is a powerful tool in open societies as well as others where the only glimpse...